


For You.

by itsallAvengers



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, BAMF Tony Stark, Feels, Fix-It of Sorts, Honestly it's 2:30 just forgive me for literally all of this I have no concept of quality any more, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt/Comfort, I can no longer tell what is good and what is garbage, M/M, Magic, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Steve Rogers-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 15:24:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11466378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallAvengers/pseuds/itsallAvengers
Summary: It's been five months. Steve hasn't seen Tony in five months.Then Loki comes along and decides it's a good idea to wear Tony's face while in the middle of launching an attack- which is confusing for many reasons.





	For You.

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for some potential dubcon vis a vis kissing- nothing serious, but if you're funny with it, please be aware.

God, Steve hated Loki.

  
  


He’d hated him when the Avengers had first formed and he’d done his level best to cause mass-genocide, and he’d hated him for every single other time he’d come back to cause mayhem on Earth. 

This time around was no different.

Except maybe for the fact that everything was now a hell of a lot harder, considering Steve and the group of people he was working with were a), fugitives, and b), missing half of the team.  Specifically the geniuses who could usually work out a clever little way to make Asgardian tricksters fuck off.

 

Steve sighed, rolling underneath a wave of green energy and kicking back up into a leap, using his flying leg to roundhouse one of the hundreds of Loki-doubles that were wreaking havoc upon Florida. “Sam, how many are you seeing from above?”

“Does ‘a fuckton’ count as a unit of measurement?”

“I’ll accept it.”

“Then two fucktons’ worth.”

Steve grimaced. “Right.” Well, that sure did make things fun.

To his left, Clint growled, slamming the hilt of his blade into a Loki’s face and then finishing it off with the other, more lethal end. “You know the drill here, Cap- we gotta find the main source and get him to piss the fuck off.”

“Okay, well Hawkeye, you got any ideas about how exactly we’re gonna do that?” Steve gritted out, throwing his shield into a cluster of Loki’s and feeling the grim satisfaction as, one by one, the shield ripped through them and turned them back into green energy once more.

“Well, we gave him a call, right? He’s on his way,” Clint said, slightly out of breath down the comm, and Steve turned briefly to watch him force his way into a building, bow drawn and face pressed. Loki was a sore spot for many, but it always took a particular toll on Clint, and under any other circumstance, Steve would have done his level best to keep him on the sidelines. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough men for that today. They could barely keep it contained as it was.

“We need to keep them contained. Falcon, round them up and keep them here for us. I’ll go for Loki- we just have to hold them until either we find him or-” Steve broke off, unable to stop his eyes from searching the skies for that familiar red and gold blur, or listen for the wonderfully familiar snark down the line. “-or Ironman can get down here and lend a hand.”

He heard Bucky sigh down the line. “How many times have we hoped that, Steve? He never shows. Come on- we gotta do this ourselves.”

Steve remained silent, shaking his head. Bucky was right; they hadn’t heard a word from Tony since they’d parted ways five months ago now. Steve didn’t really blame him- since the split, Tony seemed to have thrown himself rather vigorously into his work at SI, traveling the world every week and never staying in one place for more than a few days before jetting off again.

 

Not that Steve was monitoring him or anything. He just...worried.

 

“Boys- I think I got a lead,” Natasha called through the comm, and Steve was alert immediately, listening even more intently even as he slammed into a Loki and sent him tumbling to the ground before he could terrorise an innocent woman he’d caught running down the street.

“Where?” Steve yelled over the sound of an explosion.

“The warehouse down the road from you, Cap- about a thirty second sprint away. I picked up an intense energy wave- like a transmission or something. Hurry up, Steve- the Loki’s are close to breaking perimeter,” Natasha breathed, her voice muffled a little as she began moving around on her end.

“Copy,” Steve confirmed, before breaking off into a sprint, shield raised high to protect him from the falling debris and flame around him.  
  


Fuck. He was sure it hadn’t been like this...before. Not nearly this much fire, anyway.

Then again, everything had always been easier. When they were together.   
  


He missed that like a lost limb, some days.  
(every day)  
  


The weather was sweltering, and even Steve was sweating beneath his suit, but he ran as fast as he could down the road either way. He couldn’t risk underestimating Loki- they guy was continuously unpredictable- some days doing nothing more than hypnotizing the public to perform rather amusing antics, and other days trying his very best to kill each and every person in his sight.

So Steve sprinted.

The warehouse was nothing much. A nondescript grey building, tucked away on the corner of the road and hidden by a thin layer of trees. It didn’t appear guarded, which Steve was grateful for- it made things a little easier, at least.

(It was still weird, trying to adjust to not have the constant aerial backup on his six, and it made Steve ache a little bit deeper every time he thought of the empty space.)

 

Kicking open the fire exit, Steve raised his shield and looked around. The warehouse was entirely empty on the floor he’d entered through, but Steve had seen the windows at the bottom of the building; indication of a lower floor beneath his feet.

“I’m in,” Steve spoke, but was met only with silence. Frowning, he repeated the sentence, but again, there was nothing.

Huh. No reception. That definitely wasn’t suspicious.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to think about the implications of that, or focus too much on the magical smell that he had familiarized himself with over the years hanging over the building. All he needed to do was find Loki. The others were close on his tail.

Running forward, he made it into the corridor on the other side of the room and searched for a flight of stairs that could take him down. The hall was spacious, but eerily empty.

If Tony had been here, then he could have scanned the place. Let Steve know a little more about what he was getting himself into-  
  


But Tony wasn’t here. He wasn’t here and Steve really had to start getting used to that, dammit. He’d made the choice. This was his bed, and he’d damn well learn how to lie in it.

 

Huffing irritably, he jogged further into the corridor, veering around the corner and then, to his relief, seeing the corridor turn gradually into a slope that obviously led to the basement level. Silently removing his pistol from its holster at his side, he raised his shield a little higher on his arm and walked forward.

He was originally intending for a stealth approach. Unfortunately, at that moment, a huge shockwave decided to rip through the building, thoroughly ruining his sneak attack as he fought to remain on his feet, holding a yell between his teeth as he hoisted the shield above his head and curled up, dodging the slabs of metal and concrete as it tumbled to the ground.

“Fuck!” He hissed to himself, coughing up particles of dust and then throwing himself to the side to avoid a huge chunk of ceiling as it decided it wanted to become floor instead.

Everything was shaking- unnaturally intensely, this was definitely magic at play- and Steve knew the whole structure was about to go.  With no other option, he scrambled to his feet and ran, down the slope as fast as he could, turning it into a barely controlled roll as the shakes pushed him over completely and sent yet more jagged chunks tumbling back to earth, some of them scuffing Steve as they fell.

He hissed in pain, feeling the tear of his shoulder as something sliced straight through, but he kept going, kept rolling and rolling and rolling, eyes shut against the dust, desperately waiting for the ground to level out and the tremors to cease.

For what felt like an eternity, he kept moving; body slamming against floor and rock and shrapnel. It hurt like a bitch, and he knew his suit was lacerated- but in the end, when he finally opened his eyes, he was mostly just glad he still could.

 

His cheek was pressed into cold metal flooring, and he waited a few more seconds for the dust to settle before moving.

  
  


God, it hurt. And it looked like the whole building had just gone down on top of him.

  
  


Chances of extraction were slim, then.

 

Groaning quietly, he pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the zips of pain that spiked across his body, tiny cuts and bruises being brought to life at his movement. He still had to find Loki- even if the extent of his plan consisted of hoping he was in a good mood and then hitting him really hard with his shield whilst his guard was down.

_ Bad plan _ , the voice in his head supplied him, and he scowled in response.  _ Oh, don’t give me that look, Steve, you know what the odds of this particular endeavor working? Slim. Very, very slim. This is the type of shit you’d be chewing me out for right now, if I were there in your shoes. Hows about you just take a breather and think- _

“Shut up,” he whispered, curling his fists and limping forward. He was not going to have a discussion with a figment of his own imagination, that was for sure. Even if the particular voice in his head had been spoken with Tony’s voice and inflections and mannerisms, as it had been for weeks now. It seemed his subconscious’ way of dealing with his absence on the field was just to construct a fucking imaginary version of him and then bring it along to piss him off on missions. Which was brilliant.

_ You know you’re just being so reckless lately because you’re trying to imitate m- _

“Shut the fuck up,” he said again, shaking it out of his head. His subconscious was a liar, and really wasn’t helping right now.

Getting back into position, he took a steadying breath and crept forward, looking through the settling dust and trying to see in front of him. The emergency lights were flickering on the walls, and Steve followed them around the corner until he came to yet another opening, identical to the one on the top floor.  
  


Well. There was one difference.  
  


“Loki,” Steve said, eyes fixed on the figure stood with his back to him, hands folded neatly behind his back, stance relaxed. There were no visible weapons, but then again, he was the asshole that could shoot magic out of his ass, so Steve didn’t particularly feel like letting his guard down.

Loki made no sign he’d acknowledged Steve at all, but Steve knew this one was him. He was missing the slight shimmer around the edges that indicated a fake.

 

“I heard what happened,” Loki said suddenly, making Steve jump, “with your team. With your Iron Man.”

 

Steve stopped, eyes narrowing. “That doesn’t mean the world is any less protected, as you’ve seen-”

“Your world means nothing to me. You are simply a distraction, an amusement,” Loki waved him off, and Steve briefly prepared for attack before realizing it was simply a gesture. “But I must admit, I was rather intrigued by it all. I never would have thought-”

“Well you don’t know a lot about us then, do you,” Steve snapped. He hated talking about this with anyone, let alone Loki, “look- whatever you’re doing here Loki, stand down. Leave. You can’t win here.”

“Can’t I?” And at that, Loki turned, facing him with a smug look and a raised eyebrow as he gestured around him, “you’re buried under tonnes of rock, Captain. I am the more powerful being in this room. If I wanted to kill you, then you will die.”

Steve bristled. “Give it your best shot, asshole,”

 

_ Reckless reckless reckless- _

 

Loki paused, and then opened his mouth slightly and looked amused. “Really, Captain? I can hear him in your head, you know. Do you speak to him often?”

“He’s not in my- look, I’m going to tell you one more time to stand down, and if you refuse-”

“Do you miss him?” Loki asked softly, curiously, and Steve knew this was dangerous territory, he had to do something, but he had no idea  _ what _ \- Loki was right, the ball was entirely in his court, and all Steve could do at this point was fight, which he wasn’t really in the state to do right now.

But his team were coming. For now, he just had to stall.

“Yes,” Steve said, head high. “But you already know that, considering you’re already in my damn head.”

Loki laughed, stepping forward again. “Steven, believe me, I do not have to look into your mind to know that. Always had a soft spot for the Man of Iron, didn’t you? I noticed. All those missions, all those fights against me. I saw it,” and his voice was almost a whisper now, eyes flashing as he took another step, but this time Steve brought his gun up and pulled safety off, just for good measure.

Loki stopped, hands raised, and Steve tried to pretend his heart wasn’t beating wildly in his chest as he stared down the trickster. “You don’t know shit about me, Loki.”

“I know you want him,” Loki answered quickly, “even now, you still love him. After all of it. I can feel it inside you, that desire. It’s always been there. I was taught in the art of reading emotions, and Steve Rogers, you positively  _ burst _ with them whenever you think of him.”

Steve had to remember to breathe. That was important. “It’s irrelevant. This whole conversation is irrelevant- just tell me what your deal is here and get out-”

“You love him.”  
  


Fuck.  
  


_ “Shut up,” _ Steve whispered, stepping forward before composing himself. Loki wanted this. This was what he thrived on, this was how he worked; manipulation. Steve couldn’t fall into it, “just… shut up, Loki.”

 

The stupid bastard just laughed, hands floating upward and then sparking green. “I could help you, you know. I could stop that pain for you.”

 

Steve shook his head wildly, stepping back and raising his shield even higher. He… maybe loving Tony did hurt, yes, but it was an integral part of him. It was never something he was going to give up- even when everything else was gone, he could still hold on to that. Loki would have to kill him before he gave that up.

Loki just shrugged, taking another step. “Or maybe I could help in...other ways.”

Steve looked at him; watching him amble forward, every step he took toward Steve contorting his features a little bit, until suddenly it was no longer Loki stood directly in front of him

 

Steve sucked in a breath, hating himself for the irrational flutter of his heart as he looked down at Tony, face to face for the first time in months, eyebrow raised in amusement.

 

“Change back,” Steve said, knowing how guttural his voice sounded, how broken, but unable to control it. “Change back right now.”

Loki shook his head, plump lips forming into a smile on tan skin, fingers sweeping through the long strands of dark hair that fell over his eyes. “I could be what you want. I could be him,” stepping forward, until his fingers traced over Steve’s bleeding chest, Tony  _ (Loki Loki Loki _ ) looked up at him through those long, dark eyelashes that Steve had spent so long staring at, thinking about, counting if he managed to get close enough-

Steve pushed him off, fast and jerky, stumbling back into the wall, eyes wide and breathing heavy. God- this wasn’t- he didn’t-

“You know it would be so easy,” Loki whispered, with Tony’s voice, and he’d already made the space back that Steve had attempted to create, hands sliding up his chest, across his shoulders,  _ Tony’s hands _ , Tony’s body pressed up against him, but  _ not Tony not Tony Tony _ , “to just let me do this favour for you. Let you have what you want, after so long-”

“Fuck off, Loki, I mean it,” Steve hissed pushing away again, but the arms held on, a definite Asgardian strength that definitely wasn’t Tony at all.

They were pretty much nose to nose now, and Steve should fucking  _ fight _ , should just punch him and run, because he was weaker like this, when he was Tony- but he couldn’t. He couldn’t….not again. The sight of Tony lying on the floor, reactor cracked in his suit, was going to haunt Steve for the rest of his life, and he just….

 

Couldn’t. Not even when it wasn’t actually Tony.

Not ever again.

  
  


A smile formed on Tony’s mouth, but it wasn’t soft. It wasn’t the one Steve knew. It was so much sharper. “It amuses me, your… your principles. You really won’t hurt me, as long as I look like this, will you?” he chuckled with Tony’s laugh; standing on his tiptoes, mouth tantalizingly close to Steve’s own-

“Do you really want to find out?” Steve gritted, giving Loki another shove, harder this time, managing to send him back a few steps.

“Yes,” Loki said through Tony’s mouth, shrugging and sauntering backward, fingers playing through the air. “I want to break you, to be honest. I could do anything, when I look like this. See what makes you snap first. The anger?”

Loki stepped forward, haunting brown eyes dark and intense as they observed Steve, leaning heavily against the wall and holding his side, which had begun bleeding considerably. “What about the grief? Heard that’s a pretty good way to drive a man to the edge. I could show you how he’d look with a bullet in between his eyes-”   


_“Don’t,”_ Steve bit, shutting his eyes and turning away before he could watch the sudden trickle of blood run any further down his nose or see the colour of his skin drain into a sickly grey. “Stop it, Loki-”

“Or perhaps it’s the lust that gets you, in the end,” Tony’s voice carried, or maybe he was just awfully close again- and only being able to hear the voice made it all the more difficult to remember it was Loki in the room, not Tony, Tony was hundreds of miles away-

 

“Look at me, Steve,” Tony spoke softly, incredibly gentle hands placing themselves at the side of his face, tilting his chin upward again. 

Steve could feel his warmth once more, and when he opened his eyes after another second, Tony was there, in front of him. Wearing Steve’s favourite ensemble; his very own Captain America shirt, two sizes too big for Tony’s body, hanging deliciously off the shoulders and exposing tantalizingly delicate collarbones, paired with nothing more than boxer shorts and bare feet. His hair was messy and longer than it had been for a few months, and the beaten old glasses Tony wore when he was too lazy to put contacts in were perched on the bridge of his nose.

 

It had been what Tony would sleep in, in the summer nights, and every single time Steve had seen it, he’d been hit with a burning desire, low in his gut, desperate to touch every inch and map every line with the tips of his fingers.

 

Loki knew it. Loki was in his head- of course he knew it.

 

“He loved you too, you know,” Tony spoke, barely even letting the words escape his mouth at all, so quiet and vulnerable. “At least- I’m pretty sure he did. I saw the way he would scream for you, whenever you fell. I saw the looks he gave you. You could have had this.  _ You could have had me, _ Steve,”

He shook his head, shutting his eyes again. He was so sore; his head hurt from the knocks, and he just… missed Tony. It was too hard- he couldn’t focus enough to think about pushing away properly, not when Tony was so close after he’d wanted it for so long.

  
  
  


“I’m not ever coming back for you Steve,” Tony whispered, before pushing forward and pressing his mouth into Steve’s.

  
  
  


It took two seconds two long for him to wake the fuck up and shove him away with a snarl, and he loathed himself for missing the touch; for missing the easy way in which Tony’s frame had fit against his own, like it was just… meant to go there.

 

God. He’d just _ kissed Loki. _  
  
  


Tony sighed-  _  dear God _ was that sound so hauntingly familiar, almost making Steve smile despite the situation- and threw his hands in the air. “Ugh, you really are no fun, are you? I was just trying to be helpful.”   


Except seeing Tony, stood in front of him, looking so very....well,  _ Tony, _ was quite possibly the most unhelpful thing in the world. Steve felt completely out of whack; his heart was racing, his breath felt shaky, and he couldn’t take his fucking eyes off those lips, that had been kissing him mere moments ago, and that Steve had wanted for years, since the very beginning in some way. Desire was burning through him, and in that moment- if Steve didn’t think about it too hard- he could just see Tony, looking irritated and slightly amused as usual, and it made him ache with sadness. He missed Tony, Loki was right, he missed him so much it hurt, every fucking day, he was so tired of not thinking about it-

 

“You should learn by now, Captain, that the people you think are there for you will leave in the end. That is life, and that is what everyone must learn sooner or later.”

Loki looked at him through Tony’s eyes- big and dark and beautiful- and then took a step forward again. 

“You were the one who left your loved ones, Loki- don’t give me that bullshit,” Steve snapped, hoping it would rile Loki up into another speech that might earn him another minute for the team to find a way, any way through the rubble to help him-

  
  


Except it didn’t really work out like that.

  
  


Loki- wearing Tony’s face- contorted it into one of rage and insanity, before it completely smoothed out, transforming into a roll of the eyes and a light hearted chuckle. 

  
  


“Captain, I apologize, but I’ve lost interest. You’re boring me,” he said, and then with a speed that just looked unnatural on Tony’s body, he twirled a hand behind his back and then swept it around again, propelling forward with intense force.

  
  


Steve choked, eyes widening as he jerked back against the wall, forced into the metal by the power of the blade that Tony-- _ Loki _ \-- had just pushed into Steve’s stomach.

  
  


It was instant pain. Steve gasped, bending his head, watching Tony’s eyes shine with glee as he ripped the knife out again, remaining close, keeping Steve pressed against the wall. “Karma, darling,” he muttered, leaning up to his tiptoes and pressing a soft kiss to Steve’s lips with  _ Tony’s fucking mouth _ , and then stepping back, letting Steve choke on a breath and fold in on himself, sliding down the wall and onto the floor.  
  


Tony (Loki? It was Loki, it was, it… was just getting fuzzy around the edges) skipped away, doing a little twirl that looked oddly endearing. “And now I’m going to take care of the rest of the Avengers. Or at least, whatever you’re calling yourself now. They’re all currently scrambling in the rubble like crazed rabbits, but they shan’t for much lon-”

  
  
  


Loki never got to finish that sentence. Steve just watched him stop, eyes widening suddenly as he turned on his heel, and then yelled in anger, hand rising, green swirling around his fingers again-

 

There was a whine. A blast. A yell. Then, the next thing Steve focused in on was Loki- now definitely looking like Loki- sprawled on the floor, a sizzling mark directly in the center of his chest.

Steve knew what made those marks.

His eyesight was going fuzzy, but he spoke the name anyway- the word rolling off his tongue so naturally, so easily, he wondered why he hadn’t spoken it in so long.  
  


“Hey Steve,” and it was a voice he’d heard mere seconds ago, but so much softer, full of so much more than the other one had been, Steve knew this was the original, the real thing, “long time no see, Winghead.”

“Tony,” he breathed, trying to focus in on the red and gold, the open faceplate in front of him.

“Steve? That wasn’t me, okay- it wasn’t, I… it was Loki, okay, I didn’t, I swear, I swear it wasn’t me, it wasn’t me-"

Tony sounded so pained, Steve nodded in understanding, because he knew, only the real Tony would call him Winghead, only he would hold his face in his hands like that, in the special way he always did to make sure that the hot cores never touched his skin.

“I know. I… you came,” he said weakly, smiling in Tony’s direction, shaky hand looking for Tony’s even though he knew he shouldn’t- they weren’t friends, not any more, not after what had happened- 

Tony guided it in the right direction, before gripping it tightly, spare one going to Steve’s stomach, pressing down on the rather gaping wound in Steve’s middle. “I did indeed. Who else is gonna work out the frequency that can actually subdue the magical green ball of daddy issues,” Tony answered, and Steve could hear the smile in his voice, “hey- Steve, come on, buddy- keep those eyes open for me, okay, we’re gonna get you out of here, but I’d prefer it if you were conscious for it-”

“Mmm,” Steve agreed, feeling himself loll forward a little, and then bumping into the cool metal of Tony’s shoulder as his head rested there. He’d always found it comfortable there. Tony had smoothed out the sharp edges over the years, just for him. “That was nice ‘f ya,” he mumbled.

“Steve? Jesus, buddy, hey, look, you owe me one, okay, remember? A Big one, in fact, quite a few big ones. You can’t back out of them now, so stay with me, alright?”

Tony was pulling him gently, re-positioning his body until Steve was cradled in his lap and then lifting, curling him into a bridal carry with ease, and Steve had to admit, it was nice- he wasn’t quite sure when the last time someone had hugged him was, and even if this wasn’t an official friends hug, it was still… warm.

“Mmm,” he hummed, feeling the familiar swooping sensation his stomach made whenever Tony took him flying, “you’re not… you’re a good one, right?” He asked, pulling away suddenly as he realised that there was a good chance this was just a trap, that maybe this had been the plan all along, to get him to lower his defenses-

 

“You always tell kids you don’t have a favourite color, because you like seeing the beauty in all of them, but secretly you love yellow. You like your eggs sunny side up. You’re weirdly superstitious and refuse to walk underneath ladders for reasons I could never quite work out,” Tony blurted immediately, putting his hands in the air. “I’m a good one Steve, I promise. That wasn’t me. I wouldn’t… okay, I would never, believe me, it was Loki-”

“I know,” he assured, patting the suit and feeling the familiar whirs and mechanisms reposition underneath his hands. It was something not even Loki’s magic could authentically duplicate, and Steve had learnt the suit inside and out- if anything was going to be the real Tony, it was the man in front of him. “You… I’m sorry for making you come all the way out of here. You shouldn’t have-”

“I really,  _ really _ should,” Tony interrupted him seriously, eyes glaring steadily down at Steve. He opened his mouth as if to say something else, but apparently decided against it after a few seconds, because he simply shook his head and hauled them into standing. “Right. Let’s get you cleaned up, then. I hate getting blood on a new suit.”

Steve laughed, slightly hysterical and thoroughly grateful to whichever God was responsible for letting him have this, have the real thing for however long he’d be able to get it for.    
“Thank you,” he muttered, letting his head slump down onto the smooth metal of Tony’s shoulder once more.

“Don’t mention it,” Tony said gruffly, before kicking them up through the hole he’d made in the ceiling.

  
  
  


 

*****

  
  
  
  
  
  


He woke, unsurprisingly, in a hospital.

  
  


“Two cracked ribs, one broken finger, 21 stitches, a stab-wound that would have been fatal to any normal man, and a pretty fucking severe concussion,” a voice declared at his side, and Steve did his best to turn, spotting Sam slumped in the visitor’s chair next to his cot and looking a little more than just exhausted. “You really excelled yourself for a Class C mission there, Cap.”

He chuckled, uncaring of the twang of pain it caused him. “Good to know you’re alive too, Wilson.”

“You think we thought for one moment that you were dead down there, Steve?” Bucky asked, and that was the first time Steve even realised he was in the room too, “we have far more faith in you than that.”

“I… thanks, Buck-”

“You’re like a rat,” Bucky continued, eyes turning wistful as he looked pensively out of the window, “one of those disgusting little plague-carrier rats, you know? Always the last to go. That’s you, buddy.”

He got a consolidating pat on the back from Sam. “Right. Appreciate the sentiment, Bucky,”

“As you should,” Bucky nodded approvingly, before he turned his eyes a little more serious and took Steve’s shoulder. “Honestly, though- Loki didn’t mess with you, did he? You ain’t gonna start tryn’a kill us all are you?”

“Not that I know of. Tony came in and knocked Loki out before he could magic me up,” Steve admitted, before-

 

“Tony,” he said urgently, eyes widening a little as he went for the closest hand, which happened to be Sam’s, “is he… did he get out- where is he, did-”

“Stark’s fine,” Bucky said, “picked you up, handed you over, went back in to find Loki- by the way, Loki’s on the run again- and then he went back home.”

 

 

Home.

 

Oh. Right.

 

Where he belonged.

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  


_ I’m not ever coming back for you, Steve. _

  
  
  
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  


He thought about what it had felt like to Kiss Tony’s lips a lot after that. Sometimes he dreamed. 

 

Mostly he just wished, though.

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  


“Steve!”

  
  


It was dark- only 6 in the evening, but Winter drew the days to a close far before that anyway. Steve was just getting out of his car and making his way back into the apartment he was temporarily renting.

His first instinct upon hearing his name called that loudly and obviously was to turn around and clamp a hand over the offending mouth.

Of course, half a second later, the voice registered in his mind, and all rational thought fell pretty swiftly after that.

Spinning on his heel, he watched with wide eyes as Tony hurried toward him; woolen coat buttoned all the way up his long neck and scarf shrouding any remaining skin as he hurried forward. Steve could see his bright red nose all the way down the street. He tried not to dwell too much on how adorable that was.

“I… uh, Tony,” Steve said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, fingers subconsciously moving across the faint lump that still resided there from his impact almost a week ago now. “I thought you’d gone back to New York.”

Tony finally reached within touching distance, and then took the opportunity to shrug. “I did. Then I came back again.”

Steve stopped, eyes widening a little. “Right. Uh. Why?”

Tony shot him a look; a little patronizing and condescending, and managing to make Steve’s stomach clench at the familiarity of it. “For you.”  
  
  


_ I’m never coming back for you, Steve. _  
  
  


“Right,” Steve shook the words out of his head, focused on the way Tony stood, so very different to Loki in every tiny movement. Where Loki had been sharp edges and rigid surprises, Tony was fluid. Natural in his body. He had been using it for years, as opposed to Loki’s mere minutes, after all.

“I…” Tony paused, biting his lip and shuffling his feet on the floor. A telltale sign he was nervous. “So what was the whole Loki deal about, then?”

“What, the one where he wore your face and then stabbed me?” Steve asked dryly, raising an eyebrow, “what do you think it was about? He was trying to-”

“Not that part,” Tony interrupted, his voice quiet, and for the first time, he looked Steve directly in the eyes.

 

His hair had grown out again, Steve noticed idly. He looked a little healthier than he had done last month, too. That was good.

 

“I don’t… which part, then?” Steve answered, hands fisted in his pockets, keeping the eye contact with Tony like his life depended on it. 

Tony sighed. “I hacked into the CCTV, Steve- it was how I knew where to find you. I heard… everything.”

Steve stopped. Swallowed. Then he turned away, shaking his head. “Well then- you already know, don’t you?”

 

Tony was silent, and Steve shut his eyes; thinking of every chance they might have had before this, when everything had been good- before the team hadn’t been torn apart and scattered across the world, before Steve and Tony had gone toe to toe in an argument that neither of them would ever back down on. Before everything they'd built had crumbled in the space of a few days.  
  


 

“He was right, Steve.”  
  


 

At that, he laughed. “I know. I know you’re not coming back, Tony, I’m not blind-”

“Not that,” Tony blurted, and then closed his eyes, rubbing a gloved hand across his forehead tiredly. “God, headache, _headache_ \- anyway- not that. Well. Maybe not that. I don’t know, Jesus, everything is just….”

“Messy,” Steve finished, with a self-deprecating smile, which surprisingly, Tony mirrored, adding a roll of his eyes. 

 

“Yeah. Messy.”

 

Another silence. And then “but that’s not what he was right about. I mean… the other stuff.”

Steve paused. “Uh- I was pretty concussed for a hell of a lot of it- which parts do you mean?”

All he could remember was Loki telling him that Tony had loved him- but that couldn’t be right. Steve wasn’t naive, he knew Tony wouldn’t ever let that slip, not after everything that had happened between them, which only meant it had to have been something else, right-

 

“I mean…” Tony broke off, finally, finally letting go of Steve’s gaze as he shook his head and looked out into the dark streets, “ah, whatever. It doesn’t matter. You’ll probably figure it out in your own time, anyway.”

 

“Tony-” Steve asked, noticing the fondness creeping into his tone at the word he was so very used to saying, “why did you come here?”

Tony stopped, and blew out a breath, before pulling out a phone from his pocket and throwing it in Steve’s direction, where he caught it easily. “The one you gave me was garbage, and I had to burn it. It had nothing to do with a Rhodey-fuelled-rage, if that’s what you're thinking.”

“That wasn’t what I was thinking, actually.”

“Well good,” Tony said, shaking his head, “because that’s not what happened.”

Steve looked down at the phone, wondering, in the crueler, less trusting part of him, whether it had been fitted with a tracker. Unfortunately, he forgot how well Tony could read him- because he heard the sigh a meter away. “Feel free to put it through all the scans. It really is clean, pinkie promise. I just... “ Tony broke off again, for about the fifth time, obviously struggling to find the words in this conversation, which was honestly a rarity that Steve should have been enjoying, had it been under any other circumstance. 

“What you said, in the letter,” Tony muttered, looking down, “it works both ways. If you need me... “ he pulled out the phone on his right and side and waved it a little. “Well- I’m there. To prevent any future Loki encounters, y’know.”  
  


Steve stared at the mobile, mouth hanging open. He didn’t quite know what to say- he could barely even believe Tony was in front of him, never mind… he was trying to- what- build a bridge? Mend something? 

Tony laughed, and stepped forward. His hand lifted, a little, as if to press against Steve’s face, before he seemed to compose himself midway and move it jerkily to his shoulder, patting once and then letting go.

“Until next time, Rogers. Text me if you need me,” he said quietly, looking up at him under those amazing eyelashes- all 246 of them- before turning back the way he came, dark jacket merging with the darker night, until Steve lost sight of him entirely.

 

He watched the space Tony had occupied for a long time before going in the door.

  
  
  
  


*****

  
  
  
  


**Hey- you told me text if I needed you.**

**I have a very important question.**

  
  


_ World-ending level importance? _

  
  


**Quite possibly.**

  
  


_ I’m All Ears. _

  
  


**Okay.** **  
** **Which is the better film- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or Back to the Future?**

  
  


_ Oh god. Giving you this number was a mistake. _

_ But it’s BttF and if anyone (Wilson) says otherwise they are a heathen and deserve nothing less than Capital Punishment. Sorry I don’t make the rules here. _

  
__  
  


 

Steve looked down at his phone and smiled.


End file.
